Hatred
by leo-nor-yee
Summary: Meng has been depressed because of the recent events in her life, but when she discovers her dark secret she spirals into madness. Her targets, the people she hates, must pay. But a certain earth bending military captain is in her way. This is my submission for Twinkletoes626's Protagonist/Antagonist contest.


**AN: This story is my entry in Twinkletoes626's Protagonist/Antagonist contest. Check it out here:** **s/11269564/1/The-ProtagonistAntagonist-Generator-Challenge-Contest-til-June-7th**

 **My protagonist is Haru and my antagonist is Meng. Warning: This is really violent and a little dark, but not too bad (in my opinion). Without further ado, here it is. Yee.**

Ever since Aang and his companions had left Makapu village one year ago, no problems had arose. Business was as usual in their small yet charming town. After the war ended, a small team of earthbenders led by a boy named Haru came in to block off the volcano, to make it so unexpected eruptions would never happen. The entire village had pretty much gotten back to normal, with the earthbenders as their new protectors and guardians from the small groups of remaining fire nation rebel groups that had formed everywhere in the Earth Kingdom colonies.

Meng, however, was still thinking about a certain someone. Aang had been her foremost thought for the past year, as the village stabilized itself from the sudden volcano eruption. Aang had came and gone so quickly that Meng barely had time to sort out her feelings before Aang left. Her family had also gone to fight in the war: her father and older brother as soldiers and her mother as a medic. They were all killed when their small regiment of about 20 people was cut off and annihilated by Fire Nation tanks. She had spiraled into depression. The only good thing for her that was left was Aunt Woo and the fortune telling. That and cooking. Working took her mind off all the sad things in her life that had come so suddenly and unexpectedly.

She had moved in with Aunt Woo, who was very kind and took her in when she really had no where else to go. It had been about a month since she got the news that her parents were gone, and she was almost finished coming to terms with it and Aang. Then, one regular day, she was cooking dinner for herself and Aunt Woo, an activity that she had come to love, when she tripped and fell into the fire. Aunt Woo screamed and pulled her out as fast as she could, as Meng had fainted. Something was very strange, however: Meng was not burned. Anywhere. Her clothes didn't even have a single singe or mark at all and she was unharmed. Aunt Woo was shocked. It seemed that the time to tell Meng about her family's true heritage had come.

Meng awoke in her bed. The last thing she remembered was falling into the cooking fire and instantly passing out. To her utter shock, she had no burns anywhere on her body. Was she dead? What other possible explanation could there be? Slowly she sat up and noticed a figure sitting at the other end of the room.

"Hello, Meng. How are you feeling?" Aunt Woo asked quietly.

"What happened? Am I dead? Why are there no burns?" Meng asked in a flurry.

"You are very much alive, Meng," Aunt Woo replied slowly and just as quietly as before. "It is time that we spoke of your… heritage".

"What do you mean? I know my heritage as well as anyone in this town." Meng answered, very confused and surprised at Aunt Woo's statement.

Aunt Woo's facial expression dropped into a dark, gloomy appearance. "I shall say this once and get it over with: your parents are not Earth Kingdom." she said sorrowfully, as if she was informing Meng of a deadly disease she had contracted.

"What do you mean, I'm not Earth Kingdom?" Meng asked with disbelief.

"Your parents…" Aunt Woo paused for a moment and looked at Meng, debating on whether or not to continue. She finally realized she had no choice. "They came to this town 18 years ago as a young couple of refugees from their… Nation: The Fire Nation. They ran away after seeing the cruelty of their country and came here, where they settled in and started a new life. Both of them were Firebenders. As a result, it appears you are one as well. I assure you, however, we only found out when you fell into the fire. We had no idea before the incident that you were a fire bender. Oh, and by we, I mean me and the other elders of the village; it was a closely guarded secret."

For a moment Meng could not comprehend what she had heard. Everything seemed like it was a lie; like she was in a dream. She hated it, the fact she was a firebender, that she was Fire Nation, that her parents had kept it a secret. Her depression turned to anger. Nothing was true anymore. The world was full of lies. Meng felt a deep hatred towards her parents and the elders of the village for keeping the secret. And for that, she thought, they would pay.

Meng looked up at Aunt Woo, who was observing her reaction worriedly. She open her mouth to say something, but Meng was not in the mood. With an enraged scream and a sweep of her arm, a huge wave of scorching blue flames came out of her and engulfed Aunt Woo, who screamed and fell out a window, the ground two stories below. The only thing Meng felt was hatred; madness had rooted itself inside her permanently. And it told her one thing: everyone would pay: The elders, the stupid earthbenders who acted like no one died in the war and they were the cream of the crop, the villagers who adored the benders and practically worshipped them. Katara, oh, she would pay too. But most of all: Aang. He would regret turning her away and leaving her. It was time to deliver all her anger to the world, in the form of flames.

Meng jumped out the window and caught herself on fire. Even if she had no training in firebending whatsoever, it was quite easy to just ignite yourself and start fighting. She dashed towards the house of the second of the three elders, as the first had been taken care of. The door was burnt to a blue smoking crisp in seconds as Meng smashed the door. The old man stared at her in complete and utter shock as Meng set fire to everything around them: the dusty old furniture, the pictures of the old man's family, and everything else. The man was still sitting in his old rocking chair as his house burnt blue flames and Meng leaped out. One more to go: an old earth bending woman that lived in the center of town, right beside the earthbenders' quarters. Perfect, Meng thought. Two targets at once.

A huge crowd had gathered near her house, since everyone in the town had ran straight to their guardians when Meng started her rampage of flames. Ten strong, energetic earthbenders stood in front of the crowd. Leading them was Haru. After the war, Haru had joined the newly formed earth bending army that was dedicated to weeding out the Fire Nation rebels throughout the Earth Kingdom. He had been assigned to guard a small town that was under threat from the rebels, a village named Makapu. And now, some flaming chick was on a rampage. Apparently, she was a firebender that had been a secret to the village or something. He didn't really understand the long explanation of the remaining village elder.

Meng ran up defiantly to the group and sneered. "So you have told the entire village my secret? Well then, I guess you will all pay!" she screeched at them.

With a grunt, Meng shot out a huge blast of fire as big as an ocean wave in every direction. The earthbenders barely had time to block the attack and could only save the people, not the houses. Meng started punching seemingly infinite blue flames towards the shields of Haru and his companions, but it wasn't working; the earthbenders stood strong. After an hour of that, nothing had happened. Meng was growing furious; she would not be stopped by these pathetic ants. With a growl of fury she stopped her onslaught and turned her attention to a certain mountain. She could feel the energy beneath it. Energy that had been blocked, that was waiting to burst out. The earth guards had just dropped their shields when the ground everywhere in the entire town exploded, with lava coming out everywhere. It engulfed the houses and residents, and in seconds Makapu village was no more.

Meng grinned evilly at her work. But something made her stop. A cocoon of earth sat above the lava that was everywhere around her. Suddenly a figure pushed out the top: Haru, sweating and quite obviously very mad. That stupid captain was still alive!

With a shout of anger Meng shot a wave of fire at Haru, who just glared at her in hatred and blocked it with a wall of rock. Meng continued her onslaught in a similar manner as Haru shot rock and dirt at Meng; they were a completely even match. Their fight above the large lake of lava that showed zero sign of once being a town had been going on for roughly an hour when Meng decided she was done. With a flick of her hand, Meng sent a boiling stream of lava into Haru's face. He screamed and fell off his platform, right into the lava. He somehow managed to pull himself out with bending, but there was no way he would survive. As he lay nearly dead on the ground beside the lake, Meng stood triumphantly over him.

"Got you, you stupid, worthless earth idiot!" Meng taunted him, kicking him with each insult. "I am now going to that girl Katara. Oh, she will pay for what she did to me!".

Haru's eyes widened in horror as Meng continued.

"Then I have one target left: Aang. He will die by FIRE!" Meng roared as she turned around and slowly walked away, confidence and anger visible in each step.

Haru glanced up to look at his killer, but the last thing he saw was a bolt of blue fire heading straight for his forehead.

 **AN: I really enjoyed writing that, even if it was quite dark. Thanks to Twinkletoes626 for making this contest, and good luck to the other participants! Bye!**


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